Even as Baptists began to dig in for a long-term response to the Jan. 12 earthquake in Haiti, focus shifted to another quake that killed hundreds and caused billions of dollars in property damage in Chile.

Southern Baptists have released $50,000 for immediate relief needs in Chile, where the death toll has climbed past 700 in an earthquake disaster described by the country’s president as “without parallel in Chile's history.” A Southern Baptist assessment team is en route to the country for dialogue with ministry partners about needs and on-the-ground evaluation of the damage caused by the 8.8-magnitude earthquake that struck in the pre-dawn hours Feb. 27.

Leaders of the registered Baptist Union of Uzbekistan claim continuing harassment by the country's legal system and a media campaign intended to smear the group as a dangerous cult that targets children for proselytizing.

Eight Southern Baptist mission volunteers freed after three weeks in a Haitian jail said they hope their release will allow attention to focus once again on tremendous need remaining from the Jan. 12 earthquake that prompted them to go to Haiti in the first place.

A top official of the Southern Baptist Convention said he is confident that a church mission team being detained in Haiti on suspicion of child trafficking acted in good faith but that Haiti's government interpreted their actions "in the worst light possible."

A mission team from two Southern Baptist churches in Idaho arrested for attempting to take 33 children from Haiti to a temporary orphanage in the neighboring Dominican Republic was only trying to help children suffering in the aftermath of the Jan. 12 earthquake in Port-au-Prince, according to the pastor of one of the churches.

The head of the Baptist World Alliance has sent a letter of support for the "Baptist family in Malaysia" in light of a rash of attacks on churches since a controversial court ruling that Christians can use the word "Allah" when referring to God.

Members of Southern Baptists’ disaster assessment team reported from Port-au-Prince Jan. 20, describing severe damage in Haiti’s capital city and snarled traffic, but noted Baptists had been able to help “with a couple of deliveries” of aid.